August 29, 2008

84,000

While Obamaniacs competed for tickets and withstood long lines to see their hero at Denver's Invesco Field, John McCain's rumored announcement of his running mate here tomorrow is not exactly drawing the same interest.

McCain arrived here tonight to news reports that free tickets are still available to his rally tomorrow at a basketball arena at Wright State University. The Nutter Center has a capacity of about 12,000.

11 comments:

John K: Hey, a rock concert prior and free beer brings out everyone. The Pirates use this strategy all the time. If you had thrown in some govt free cheese the stadium would have had people standing on top of people.

John K: I would also point out that the big winner during the Obama speech was Gore. He required all the Democrats consuming beverages and food to buy carbon offset credits thru his company in order to imbide. Gore knows the adage that a fool and their money are soon parted.

I didn't think Obama's speech rose to the level of his Philadelphia speech on race. That said, I think it was a very good speech, and did what he set out to do. Without drowning us in detail, he laid out his proposals for policy. He also engaged in a bit of theatre, by adopting a more firm tone and looking serious while saying that he thinks he has the judgement to be commander in chief. He didn't mention corn based ethanol, he did mention clean coal, he made it clear that 95% of the country will get tax breaks, and only the top 5% will be taxed, and he mentioned he and Michelle went to the best schools, but on scholarships and loans. It was a very good all around introduction to Obama, and forms a useful refernce point going forward. Now we know who he is, and have an idea about what he wants to do. Now we need specifics for those who want them, and stirring rhetoric for those who nedd that.

John K: Yep Palin. Sort of makes Obama look weak. But think here a minute all you open minded liberals. Two years ago you refused to vote for a Black man for Gov. Sounds racist to me. And now you disrespect a woman for VP. Sounds sexist to me. McCain trumped you again.

Palin's pro-life, she (very) photogenic, has a big family, is from the west, and is a woman. In short, she's got the surface bona fides that could potentially satisfy both evangelicals and enough PUMAs to hurt Obama in places like Florida and Ohio.

Of course, she could also turn out to be a flash in the pan. She's light on experience - she has less than Barack. That kind of undercuts the whole 'not ready' meme when your leading candidate may wind up handing the reins to his no. 2 after one term. AND there's an investigation as to whether or not she had a brother in-law fired to punish him during a custody dispute. Still, it was smart politics for McCain to pick her - at least in the short term.

I still think it'll come down to who has the best ground and legal teams, though.

Oh, and Obama's speech still rocked. He'll stil get a nice bounce out of this, even with Palin being chosen McCain's running mate. If he starts rolling on the campaign trail like he did last night, it will be a wonder to behold.

I'm really not sure how having executive experience from a state that has a population smaller than the following cities counts for much:

– New York, NY

– Los Angeles, CA

– Chicago, IL

– Houston, TX

– Phoenix, AZ

– Philadelphia, PA

– San Antonio, TX

– San Diego, CA

– Dallas, TX

– San Jose, CA

– Detroit, MI

– Jacksonville, FL

– Indianapolis, IN

– San Francisco, CA

– Columbus, OH

– Austin, TX(h/t Matt Yglesias)

Her 1 1/2 years as Alaska's governor is MORE executive experience than even McCain has!

Sorry but that kind of experience is not going to contrast well even with Obama's 12 years in the Illinois Senate, 4 years as a Senator and years spent working as a community organizer. And it's going to be very difficult her to talk foreign policy in a debate with Joe Biden, because she has no foreign policy experience.

If anything, the selection of Palin has undermined every argument McCain has made against Obama's inexperience. If the former mayor of a town of 6,000 and brief tenure as governor of the 47th largest state is enough experience, then Obama's got it beat by a mile.

John McCain should have saved himelf the trouble and simple declared, "Obama is ready to lead."